Misunderstandings
by KaylinElemental15
Summary: Ed and Al finally found the Philosopher's Stone! However, things get confusing as the boys find another stone that looks just like it after they return from HQ. NOTE! This takes place before they found out the secret ingredient. One-Shot! This is my first fic, so enjoy!


**Hi! This is my first fanfic so feel free to point out mistakes or flame me. It's also my first time doing this and now I should take my leave. Edward, can you do the disclaimer?**

**Edward: Why have me do it?!**

**Me: Because you're awesome! ^-^**

**Edward: -sigh- KaylinElemental15 doesn't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. It belongs respectfully to Aniplex, Bones, Funimation, and most importantly, Hiromu Arakawa. You happy now?**

**Me: Yes! Thank you!**

Somewhere in Amestris…

"Come on, Al! We gotta catch that guy before we lose him!" Edward called out and started to run after the runaway cloaked alchemist.

Al ran after his brother to catch up with him and catch the alchemist who may very well have a Philosopher's Stone!

~the day before at East Command~

"A Philosopher's Stone in Riviere?!" Ed and Al asked in unison. Mustang turned to the brothers and nodded. The colonel handed the file to Ed.

"There have been recent sightings of a strange man in a cloak roaming the city with a red stone," Mustang explained. "I want you to go and investigate."

Edward took a look at the file, then looked back at Mustang, "Yeah, we'll be off to the station and heading to Riviere in a jiffy!" As he and Al took their leave, Mustang then remembered about something else that came to mind.

"I forgot to tell them that there's a strange girl who appears from time to time with a red stone...oh well, they'll most likely figure it out," he mused to himself.

Meanwhile, Al and Ed made a beeline through the streets of East City to the station for Riviere. Al then asked, "Brother, do you think this one's the real Philosopher's Stone?"

Ed stopped and turned to his little brother and said, "If it is, then we'll have found a way to restore you back into your original body." He then started down the sidewalk with Al following close behind.

Al then said, "We also have to restore your arm and leg too. Automail can be hard to handle…speaking of, have you done any maintenance yet?" Edward skidded to a halt, sweat pouring down his face as he imagined an extremely angry Winry launching a wrench at his head for not doing any maintenance on his automail.

He shuddered at the thought, "It's still fine, Al! Nothing to worry about! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha…"

Both brothers sweatdropped at the elder brother's remark and continued on their way to the station…

~Back in present time in Riviere~

The Elric brothers chased the alchemist into an alley to corner him, but the hooded alchemist simply transmuted knives from the surrounding walls using the red stone, and tossed them at the brothers! The brothers dodged the incoming knives and Ed transmuted a spear to hurl it at the hooded alchemist as a way for distraction. The hooded alchemist fell for Edward's tactic and Al took the chance to punch the guy in the face! Completely bested by the young alchemists, the hooded alchemist went down in an instant.

"This guy didn't seem all that tough," Al remarked, glancing at the unconscious alchemist. "If you ask me, he was easier than some other foes we met during our travels."

Ed walked over to the hooded guy and started searching him through. "Apparently, he did have a Philosopher's Stone on him…" Edward then found what he was searching for and showed the Philosopher's Stone to Al, who gazed at it in awe.

Al managed to come back to his senses, "What do we do now, Brother?"

Ed pocketed the Stone in his red coat and said, "For now, we'll head back to East City. Colonel Bastard wanted us to report back in as soon as we completed this mission, stone or no stone." After that, the brothers left the rest to the MPs and went back to the hotel to gather their things for the trip back.

~**cookie, cookie, cookie, cookie, alchemy~**

After a long and exhausting train ride back to East City, the two brothers made their way back to the hotel where they currently stayed at. Edward plopped himself down on his bed as Alphonse sat down on the other bed next to his brother's. Despite wanting to get their bodies back in an instant as soon as they got the stone, Ed was dead tired after chasing that hooded alchemist all day and the train ride back didn't help much with the seats being uncomfortable. Ed took out the Philosopher's Stone from the pocket of his coat and took a better look at it. Sure, he's seen it before, but never actually held one up close ever since he started searching for it.

"To think we've actually found it, Al," Ed mumbled. The young alchemist sat up from his bed and grinned at Al. "All we gotta do is get your body back."

Al nodded, "Right, and your arm and leg." Ed nodded in agreement. They always thought about each other. The brothers shared a strong bond with one another since for as long as they can remember and would do anything to keep the other safe.

Just then, Ed remembered, "Damn it! I still have to report in to the Colonel! Looks like it'll have to wait a little longer…(sigh)."

"Looks like another trip back to East HQ. Just don't try to break the door again," Al remarked, making his older brother twitch in annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah. That door has survived many assaults. What's one more gonna do?" Ed asked nervously.

~At Colonel Mustang's office…~

**(BANG!)**

Everyone in the office gaped at the office entrance, staring in shock at the now doorless entrance. The Elric brothers stared in shock at the door that now laid on the floor-courtesy of Edward Elric kicking the door open again-and slowly looked up to see an enraged Colonel Mustang.

"FULLMETAL!" Mustang roared, causing Edward to duck and cover before Mustang snapped a line of fire at him.

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO BREAK IT, HONEST!" Ed yelled frantically to try to reason with his commanding officer and barely dodged a shot of flame.

~Many hours later after putting the fire out, calming the Colonel down, and fixing the door~

"You found the stone?" Mustang asked, surprised by the brother's achievement. The boys nodded in affirmative, making the colonel drop his jaw onto the floor. "If that's true, then how come I'm still seeing you like this?"

Ed snorted at this and turned his head to the side, "I would've used it already if I wasn't so tired after chasing that thug all over the place and didn't have to rush just to turn in a report. Which, by the way, is right here." He then tossed the report across the Colonel's desk and Mustang caught it before it fell off the edge.

Mustang smirked as an idea came to him, "I see your temper is still as short as your height."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A SHRIMP WHO'S SO SHORT HE COULD BE IDENTIFIED AS AN ATOM?!"

~About an hour later at the Elric's dorm~

"That bastard colonel! Making fun of my height…I'M NOT SHORT, DAMMIT!" Ed shot off as he and Al returned to their room.

"Do you always have to go off like that?" Alphonse asked as Ed went to the bathroom to take a shower.

"Life is always a challenge!"

Al sighed to himself, knowing how stubborn his brother could be, and looked towards the table where the Philosopher's Stone was left on, except he noticed something off…

"BROTHER!"

Edward immediately darted out of the bathroom at the sound of his younger brother's scream. "What happened, Al?! Did someone break in or-!" That was when Ed noticed what Al was freaking out about: another red stone next to the Philosopher's Stone! And what's worse, they look exactly the same…

Ed crept closer to the two stones and inspected them both. "Which do you think is the Philosopher's Stone?" he asks after studying them for a good few minutes.

Al responded, "I don't know, Brother. There was already another one here by the time I noticed. Could it be that one of them is fake?"

"It could be, but then again, maybe not." Ed then picked up the Red Stone on the left. He then smirked, "Only one way to find out."

The older Elric then used the stone he held. It started to glow a bright light as words began to form in front of the two brothers. The words read: **Destroy the world or Keep it safe?**

Al and Ed stared at the words, wondering what it meant by destroying the world or keeping it safe. Then all of sudden…

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Edward snapped as he realized it was the wrong one! "It should be the other one that's the Philosopher's Stone! At least!"

Al then yelled, "THEN WHAT STONE IS THIS ONE?!"

"That would be my bad."

The brothers turned around to find a young girl with silver hair and red eyes, and wore a schoolgirl's uniform. What caught the brothers by surprise was the scythe she carried on her back…

"Who are you?!" Edward immediately asked.

The girl replied, "I shouldn't really tell you my name. But if you want to know, it's Siera. That stone you're holding is something I simply misplaced by accident. But I thank you for finding it for me." Siera then smiles at the pair of shocked brothers.

Al then found his voice, "Umm…if you don't mind me asking, why are you carrying a scythe? That thing's dangerous!"

Siera looked at the scythe she carries and smiles at the armored boy, "Believe it or not, it's actually my weapon of choice! _Tee-hee!_"

Edward deadpanned at this. _And people say I'm crazy?! She sounds kind of like a psychopath!_ "So this is yours?" The state alchemist motioned to the stone he still held.

Siera nodded, "That stone, my friend, is called the Mystic Stone. It has power that's equal to the Philosopher's Stone. However, that's not its true form."

"It's not?" the brothers asked in unison before looking at each other realizing what they just did.

Siera nodded again, "Its true form is much bigger and more sight-breaking. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta return that stone back to the world where I came from." The strange girl then took the Mystic Stone from Edward and also grabbed the Philosopher's Stone! "You two don't know what this thing's made from, so I'll take it off your hands! Besides, there're still a lot of things you boys have to do."

As Siera made her leave, Al and Ed shouted with tears pouring out of their eyes like waterfalls, "HEY! WHY TAKE BOTH WITH YOU?! THIEF!"

The mysterious girl turns around to face Edward and Alphonse to give them one last smile, and she disappeared in a beam of light, leaving the boys to stare at the now empty area with their jaws on the floor!

Al noticed a small slip of paper on the floor and picked it up. He started to read it out loud so Ed could hear, "_I would've let you keep the stone, but it most likely would have been all in vain since it's a fake. The stone vanished into dust as soon as I left. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Siera. _It was a fake all along?" Just then, Al heard a _plop_ below him.

On the floor, Ed sighed in regret and utter dejection with doom and gloom swirling all over him, "A fake…" he muttered under his breath. "It was a fake all along…spared us the trouble of going through mayhem, but a fake…?" Al patted his brother's back, resisting the urge to facepalm at Edward's sudden depression.

_Looks like it'll have to wait a while longer._ Al thought to himself.

~End…cookie~

**AAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD that's that! Again, this was my first time doing a fanfic. The idea was inspired by a videogame I'm currently making and I remembered the Mystic Stone's disguised form is small, round, and red reminding me of a Philosopher's Stone. It was kinda hard to type it all out, but I think I got it down…I think. Please review! I'll give you a cookie.**

**Edward: -mutters- A fake…the stone was a fake…**

**Me: -pats back in slight mock sympathy- There, there, Ed. You and Al will get your bodies back someday…over the rainbow.**

**Edward: DON'T REFER TO THE WIZARD OF OZ!**


End file.
